I preordered an X10 from Crutchfield but I just cancelled the order. I have yet to read any solid positive reviews on why I should spend $500 to $700 on this unit. I think I will wait and see what other 4K options arise in the future.

Any recommendations for an external hard drive to use with the player?

I would think you would want a very fast one. 7200rpm or faster. I just bought a Seagate external HD/SSD hybrid. They claim to be 4x faster that a regular HD but not sure if that is really true but it's definitely faster.

They install and run just like a regular HD. For 2TB $120. Think 4TB is like $180.

I can't figure out why the X10 has a USB 2 instead of a USB 3. That could really cause a bottleneck.

Not sure about that, Dreaux. Faster hard drives are likely to be noisier, which may not be desirable in a quiet home theater environment.

If we did the math, my bet is that even a 5400 RPM drive's data transfer rate is fast enough to sustain a 4K video stream. Of course, I haven't done the math, so maybe someone will prove me wrong. It would be interesting to know for sure.

Yeah, you may be right, still faster ones are not that more expensive. I am more concerned with USB2, will it be fast enough? It appears that Sony thinks it it.
I know on my directv external drive I use eSata and have no hangups when playing back recorded HD. I have a 2TB 7200rpm external for the Directv and don't hear it but then again I am half deaf.

I just canceled my order also with Amazon for the X10. I am going to wait and see if there are going to be any better offerings from Sony with the 4K movies. I got burned with DVDA and after reading the listing of the 200 offerings from Sony on the content provided I decided I'll pass until a later date and see if this thing grows legs.

My first 4K purchase was Spiderman!.. And it looks great.. I do have a question.. anyone here with the 65x900A have the mastered in 4k version of spiderman to compare too? I notice that the 4k i bought doesnt look as sharp as the one i saw on best buy when i fisrt gushed over my tv .. anyone have the mastered in 4k version and have they tried it on their 65x900A?

The Sony movies on the X10 look the same as they looked on the X1, however the shorts look great but after one viewing that's it for them. I really got my X10 for Netflix. Right now they have about 8 video that have exceptional PQ but I am hoping they will have more in the future. They seem to be the only streamer who is embracing 4K. So if you are on the fence you may want to hold off unless you want to set up something for the future.

The butterfly one is the best made of them IMHO It looks beautiful on the 65x900a

Thnx Matt..... That's what I was afraid of but better late than never!

Try the Minix Neo X8-H Android TV box from Amazon for $175. It plays XAVC MP4 files from your SD card straight from AX100. It can also play MP4 clips edited on Movie Studio Platinum on SD or USB drives.
I'm still getting the FMP-X10 but if I wait for "later this fall" I will have too many edited 4K clips that I cannot play back on my X900A since the AX100 is the only 4K play-back device for the X900A but will not play 4K clips after editing. The Minix connects to X900A using HDMI 2.0.

Try the Minix Neo X8-H Android TV box from Amazon for $175. It plays XAVC MP4 files from your SD card straight from AX100. It can also play MP4 clips edited on Movie Studio Platinum on SD or USB drives.
I'm still getting the FMP-X10 but if I wait for "later this fall" I will have too many edited 4K clips that I cannot play back on my X900A since the AX100 is the only 4K play-back device for the X900A but will not play 4K clips after editing. The Minix connects to X900A using HDMI 2.0.

My first 4K purchase was Spiderman!.. And it looks great.. I do have a question.. anyone here with the 65x900A have the mastered in 4k version of spiderman to compare too? I notice that the 4k i bought doesnt look as sharp as the one i saw on best buy when i fisrt gushed over my tv .. anyone have the mastered in 4k version and have they tried it on their 65x900A?

I am holding off on buying until only 4k made movies start coming out

Thanks..

It's b.c the spiderman clip at best buy was part of a demo. The demo clips always look better than the actual movies.

It's b.c the spiderman clip at best buy was part of a demo. The demo clips always look better than the actual movies.

I'll have to check that out, but there's no reason why it should look better since both are in native 4K and the bit rate in the movie itself is healthy enough. They probably just took a clip from the 4k encode and added polish to it. The comments about Netflix House of Cards looking better than Sony 4K movies has me thinking that they are doing the same thing, just adding wax (DNR) to the video. Well I would rather see the video unmolested because it removes fine detail which is part of the movie.

I'll have to check that out, but there's no reason why it should look better since both are in native 4K and the bit rate in the movie itself is healthy enough. They probably just took a clip from the 4k encode and added polish to it. The comments about Netflix House of Cards looking better than Sony 4K movies has me thinking that they are doing the same thing, just adding wax (DNR) to the video. Well I would rather see the video unmolested because it removes fine detail which is part of the movie.

I think they just polished the spiderman clip like you said. House of cards looks crystal clear. Granted the 1080p super HD of house of cards looks better than some 4k jobs I have seen.

Well after having owned this for a week- I am 100% certain I'll be keeping the FMP-X10 - but I could see why many current owners of the FMP-X1 would be hesitant to spend $700 on another 4K box- Here is my own breakdown, of which many points have already been covered by other members, but I'll reiterate them anyways...

-Horrible WiFi speeds when downloading from the 4K store- 4 minute contents push an hour to download- stick with wired and average 25-30mbps

-Obviously cost- at $700 price point, I don't think I would have been an early adopter for the FMP-X10, probably would have waited 6 months for price drop- but having EPP through Sony, at my price, it was a no brainer

-Being an early adopter, you get the wow factor from many people who see 4K for the first time, and it's exactly what I'm getting in combination with my xbr900a

-4k demos look amazing, hopefully Sony updates and adds more?? Jimmy Kemmel demo is the best live concert I've seen on TV ever

-Netflix is strong with 4k- moving arts clips can be just flat out amazing, desert scene! I have TCW 100MB so I hit 4K within 15 secs tops. House of cards look amazing, but damn that show is soooo boring, I had to switch it to BB afterwards lol - so in conclusion, if having the FMP-X10 helps demonstrate the full potential of my xbr900a, then I'm all for it, as Sony did a great job with the menus and store layout, and having the ability to have a hub for everything 4k, makes it worth owning

Well after having owned this for a week- I am 100% certain I'll be keeping the FMP-X10 - but I could see why many current owners of the FMP-X1 would be hesitant to spend $700 on another 4K box- Here is my own breakdown, of which many points have already been covered by other members, but I'll reiterate them anyways...

-Horrible WiFi speeds when downloading from the 4K store- 4 minute contents push an hour to download- stick with wired and average 25-30mbps

-Obviously cost- at $700 price point, I don't think I would have been an early adopter for the FMP-X10, probably would have waited 6 months for price drop- but having EPP through Sony, at my price, it was a no brainer

-Being an early adopter, you get the wow factor from many people who see 4K for the first time, and it's exactly what I'm getting in combination with my xbr900a

-4k demos look amazing, hopefully Sony updates and adds more?? Jimmy Kemmel demo is the best live concert I've seen on TV ever

-Netflix is strong with 4k- moving arts clips can be just flat out amazing, desert scene! I have TCW 100MB so I hit 4K within 15 secs tops. House of cards look amazing, but damn that show is soooo boring, I had to switch it to BB afterwards lol - so in conclusion, if having the FMP-X10 helps demonstrate the full potential of my xbr900a, then I'm all for it, as Sony did a great job with the menus and store layout, and having the ability to have a hub for everything 4k, makes it worth owning

Only 23 movies available for rental!! That's just a load of cr*p . I guess it just goes to show how Sony operates- greed-greed-greed.. Personally I would not buy any movies at the price they want. I really have to consider whether or not to cancel my Crutchfield preorder. My gut tells me that you just cannot trust Sony to do the right thing for the consumer down the road. Netflix is fine but will there be an Amazon app (unknown) and others in the future, etc..
I thank you for the review and pointing out the little good and the bigger bad ..
Gerry

I didn't get delivery of my X10 yet, but having owned the X1 since last July, I too was frustrated when new titles appeared and were for purchase only. A number of us complained to Sony and a few titles were changed over to rent. It was either their decision after sale to turn titles to rental, or whether user response moved them along more quickly.

Anyway, the new X10 comes with very limited material. As you've heard, some samples for the WOW factor and showing off to friends.

The X1 I had, came with 10 movies that I've transferred over to a 3TB external drive. Whether those will be retrievable from the external drive for the X10 remains to be seen.

I didn't get delivery of my X10 yet, but having owned the X1 since last July, I too was frustrated when new titles appeared and were for purchase only. A number of us complained to Sony and a few titles were changed over to rent. It was either their decision after sale to turn titles to rental, or whether user response moved them along more quickly.

Anyway, the new X10 comes with very limited material. As you've heard, some samples for the WOW factor and showing off to friends.

The X1 I had, came with 10 movies that I've transferred over to a 3TB external drive. Whether those will be retrievable from the external drive for the X10 remains to be seen.

I plugged a new WD 3TB external into the X1, and clicked Format. After it set up, I went to each feature, "Salt, "Bridge on the River Kwai" etc and one-by-one did "Move to External." When it was complete, the X1's internal drive was down at 260G (from 700G) and the external showed 400G used. The 10 features were viewable off the X1's menu from the External drive option.

It couldn't have been easier, but I don't know what format they were. I suspect they're in the same format as were originally on the internal X1 drive.

Hopefully, when the X10 gets here, it will load the external and the movies.